Cursed Shield
The Cursed Shield is a shield of unknown provenance in Final Fantasy VI. It transforms into the Paladin Shield, the most powerful shield, after winning 256 battles with the shield equipped. The Cursed Shield is the worst shield; not only does it inflict numerous status ailments on the wearer, it makes the equipped character weak to certain elements. To obtain the shield, the player must recruit Locke in the World of Ruin and go to Narshe with him in the party to open the locked doors within the city. The shield is found inside the house right up the stairs to the right of the relic shop. Attributes The Cursed Shield gives stat penalties; -7 to Strength, Speed, Stamina, and Magic and no boosts to Defense, Evasion, Magic Defense, and Magic Evasion. It inflicts Doom, Silence, Berserk, Confusion, and Sap on the wearer. The player can equip a Ribbon to prevent the status ailments, except Doom. The Lich Ring will make Doom heal the wearer, and the Minerva Bustier can negate the elemental weaknesses. Cursed Shield makes the user weak to Fire, Ice, Lightning, Poison, Earth, and Water. All characters except Umaro can equip the Cursed Shield. It is ignored by the Optimize option in the equipment menu. It is affected by the immunity bug. When the player equips the Cursed Shield mid-battle, rather than inflicting the wearer with statuses, it immunizes the wearer to Silence, Berserk, Confuse, and Sap. However, due to the relationship with Regen, setting Sap immunity also sets Regen immunity. This is a normal rule of the game, the same goes for Haste and Slow. When the player de-equips the Cursed Shield in the same battle, the immunities it set are stripped. This does not account for Regen immunity, so Sap and Regen immunity will remain for the duration of the battle. If a target is turned into a Zombie, it'll always lose certain statuses (Blind, Poison, Critical, Berserk, Confuse, and Sleep), even if they were supposed to be permanent (Cursed Shield). Dispelling the curse Players should not equip Gogo with the Cursed Shield if they want to dispel the curse, because the only characters that can dispel the shield's curse are those who can gain Magic AP in battle. Those who cannot earn Magic AP, like Gogo and Umaro (if he could equip shields), are unable to dispel the curse. The player is advised to equip the wearer with a Ribbon to counter nearly all the status ailments, except for the Doom status. It will also help if a party member is also equipped with the Alarm Earring to prevent back attacks and pincer attacks, speeding up the battle. Equipping the Lich Ring renders Doom harmless; after the countdown, the wearer is fully healed. The easiest and fastest way to dispel the curse from the shield is to fly to the Solitary Island and fight the Peepers. Since they have innate Sap and only one HP, they will usually die before or after their first turn. Players must be careful when fighting in the desert nearby, as a Black Dragon may occasionally show up. Dispelling conditions If a character in the party has the Cursed Shield equipped and has won 256 battles, the shield transforms into the Paladin's Shield, the best shield. The shield must be equipped to a character other than Gogo who can't uncurse it. Removing the Cursed Shield from the equipped character, or changing the wearer, does not reset the counter. There are certain conditions that must be met for the battle to count. The player must win the battle, but they don't need to defeat the enemies. If the opponent flees, like Deathgaze, or dies from Poison or Sap status, the battle will count as won. If the equipped character is in KO, Zombie, or Petrify status when the battle is won, it will not count towards dispelling the curse. Battles won at the Dragon's Neck Coliseum do not count. Battles where Gau leaps or returns on the Veldt during battle do not count either. Other appearances ''Final Fantasy Brave Exvius Gallery FFVI Cursed Shield Artwork.jpg|Official art from ''Final Fantasy VI. Etymology Category:Armor in Final Fantasy VI